Burn permits available at fire department

Burning permits for backyard burning, and non-agricultural burning in Lincoln County are available at each of the towns in the county.

Lincoln County Fire Chief Rick Stever said “each community is responsible for their own, the county is not going to look over their shoulder and oversee everything.”

Permits can be obtained at no charge from the town board, city council, or fire departments.

Stever gave the example of a person wanting to burn a pile of leaves, limbs and other yard debris. “Talk to your fire department and tell them what you want to do.”

The Nevada Department of Environmental Protection wants to know two weeks in advance of when you are planning to burn, Stever said. “But most of the districts, and myself included, are allowing people to call the day before the burning and get the permits, and I can notify the Sheriff’s office to let them know.”

He said the new rule is “something coming down from the federal government and the states are saying we have to support it.”

Commissioner Paul Donohue has called it an “unfunded mandate.”

While burning of agricultural fields is exempt, Stever said burning the material that accumulates around agriculture fields, such as railings, trash, twine, and other debris, will require a permit.

Asked how the new laws will be administered, he said he thought it might be done by inspectors who make periodic visits, similar to state health and food inspectors.